Opel Combo builds on successful platform

So what do you do if you want a successful small light commercial? Well, one way is to build it on a successful car platform. And, if Opel’s new Combo is NOT successful, it will prove that particular formula very wrong.

But I don’t think there’ll be a real problem. A couple of days in Hamburg with this latest small van from GM’s European arm has provided us with experience of a vehicle which appears to be solid, sweet, and very practical.

It had to be solid, because if there’s any basic epitaph for the Opel Corsa it is strongly built. It also has a sweet nature (my daughter bought one, and this is what she says). And putting a quite substantial van body on the platform adds the practicality in commercial terms.

The nominal load weight is 810 kg, with a cubic capacity of 3,200 litres. In Ireland, where it is due in late November for demo models in Opel Ireland’s dealer network so that they can build up to the buying time in January/February, the Combo will come with two variations of the company’s 1.7-litre diesel. One is the normally aspirated plant outputting 65hp, the second is turbocharged to 87hp. A 1.6-litre petrol offered in other markets will not be available here.

The critical measurements are a 1.78-metre long load length in an area 1.38 metres wide. Maximum load height is 1.2 metres, while the distance between the wheel arches is 1.13 metres, which will allow a Euro Pallet.

There’s a neat gizmo available as an option in the partition grid, which allows the passenger side section to be hinged over the folded passenger seatback, giving a load length for part of the vehicle to 2.7 metres. They call this FlexCargo, and the hinged section acts as a protection from side load to the driver. And even without this system, the hardbacked passenger seat when folded makes a very useful tabletop for an operator to do paperwork or even use a laptop. Some might crib about the lack of passenger seat forward travel, but that’s been decided for safety reasons. The latching system for that hinged bulkhead requires the seat to be in one position.

For those of us used to the Corsa car, the cab interior is no surprise, except for the higher roofline, which has allowed the provision of a full-length shelf overhead, to hold folders, clipboards or other books. It is a substantial shelf too. And that same raised roof means the maker was able to make the seats higher too, better for operators who have to do a lot of getting in and out of their vehicles.

Although Opel Ireland are still negotiating specifications and pricing for this market as I write, we can take it that the vehicle here will include the CD/Radio system we’re familiar with in the Corsa car, as it is now Opel policy that all their vehicles come equipped with CD players.

Service intervals have been extended compared to the previous Combo, to 20,000 miles or 12 months, and a fuel consumption of almost 49mpg is bound to be attractive to operators. The deep plastic front skirt and rear wraparound bumpers should absorb a lot of the knocks and nudges which are part and parcel of the light commercial workday.

Advantages which come because of the Combo’s car platform include safety systems from the car, including the pedal release system, and seatbelt tensioners and force limiters. The much improved suspension system of the current Corsa is also part of the Combo, but springs and shocks, and brakes, have all been upgraded to cope with current loads.

The Combo also comes with the electric power steering which is a Corsa feature. Though I’ve always felt there’s a slight hesitation before it gets to work (in other cars too, like Fiat’s Punto), the system operates pretty well and costs nothing in power terms as hydraulic systems do. And it is speed-related, so at normal highway speeds it doesn’t cut in, allowing a good feel of the road.

So how did this latest light commercial from Opel feel on that road? Pretty good, as we’d expect. Even unloaded, there’s more weight over the rear-end than in the car, but the modifications to the suspension seem to have been well done, because there was no harshness. The mesh partition meant some boom, but that’s what a van is, and those on test were empty.

The 16v diesel engines we already know, and they pull the van along with a pleasing thrmmmm. As is my wont, I’ll wait for a more lengthy experience with the vehicle before making any judgement. But first feelings are positive.

Next year they’ll be producing a car based on the Combo, called the Tour. It is a full 5-seater, looks good, and would make a fine small family car. It would be aimed at the same buyer as goes for Renault’s Kangoo Kar and Citroen’s Berlingo Multispace.

But it’s not likely to be brought to Ireland by Opel. Neither Kangoo nor Multispace have sold well here, because there’s a snobby attitude to van-derived cars. Maybe, though, Opel’s Tour could benefit if marketed as what it really is - a mini-MPV, based on a van that’s based on a car.

I’d have no hang-ups owning one. As I wouldn’t for Kangoo or Multispace, either.

But I don’t make the car-buying final decisions in my house.

Anyway, Opel Ireland, think about Tour.